Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion "Social issues"

This is very school system specific.

Can you find other people who have been through this with their kids and find out how they dealt with it?

Squishys I think it's principle's discretion and then you take it to the education department if you disagree. However, the school should be getting a department psych involved and there's a reasonable chance of them backing you up. I wouldn't want the school psych doing an assessment, but most people I know who've taken a report to school and the school has then called in the department psych have had a fairly decent experience.

We are waiting for this process for our DD, the school knows that the skip we did 18 months ago is no longer enough, but they want their own professional to tell them what to do, not me. The principle herself has said the psych is being called in to advise whether to plan another skip or what else to do instead over time.

Good luck, and don't panic!

I don't know anyone IRL who has gone through this, JonLaw.

Mumofthree, the school will be using the Slosson and RPM next term; I don't know if this person testing is a psychologist, they simply describe her as " the person who does testing". I don't know if these tests can be given by someone who isn't a psych...

Hopefully, this tester can give other opinions (on the social thing) and everything will be okay. If not, then I guess I will have to get my own report. I'm trying to avoid extra costs, as the tuition is quite costly.

I had plenty of empathy as a child and was more mature than my age mates. But I had zero patience with kids I was supposed to help. As a child I simply could not understand how is it possible they "didn't get it!" when it was so easy? I didn't learn to have that patience with other people who were slower learners until I was in my late 20s / early 30s. Even teachers don't always have that patience. How can they expect it from a little kid?

Exactly. They shouldn't expect it, and they know that. It needs to be made clear that squishys' son is being bullied by school personnel to concoct an excuse for preventing academic advancement.

Thanks, everyone. I know my boy has empathy, at least since he was four he could empathise with cartoon characters just by their sad facial expressions. He also likes to make donations to charity, etc. I think he is just a little self-absorbed. He usually has great patience, especially with having a baby brother, but at school he has more important things to do. He is aware that school is his time to learn, so he probably doesn't want to have to teach. I understand that it can be a good learning tool, but it shouldn't be a deciding factor in his acceleration.

Squishys, I believe you need to be approved/lisenced to do those tests but not necessarily a psychologist. I thought he was in a public school, so my advice is not relevant - private schools don't use department psychs and can do whatever they please basically.

We had our kids at a very high end private school and they were exceptional at picking up my 2e child's issues (when I say picking up we were instructed to take her to an OT and a psych and come back with reports which they then enthusiastically applied). With my HG child they were far less helpful as we were the ones that initiated the process, so even though we had reports, they were less helpful about following the professional advice - because they hadn't identified the issue and asked for the professional instructions...

My son is in a public school. By tuition, I meant for the private tutor he sees.